Monthly Archive October 2018

10 PAX nearly got mauled by a pack of rabid German Shepherds at #TheFloater. Or at least that is what flashed before the eyes of one very surprised gentleman on the mean streets of downtown Waxhaw.

YHC rolled into the parking lot with one eye open after staying up late and nodding off watching the Red Sox win yet another crazy game. #5MoreWins. Following the Red Sox motto, my intent was to #DoDamage.

WARMUP:

Mosey to the other side of the tracks to open parking lot near Waxhaw Women’s Club (get your mind out of the gutter . . . not that type)

Stuttering disclaimer given

SSH x 20

Imperial Squawkers x 10

Merkins x 10

MC x 15

Plank Jacks x 20

One-legged knee dips x 12 (most PAX quit at 10 . . . #NoHalt)

THE THANG:

Start the mosey to Mount Thin Mint (aka “Bad Idea”)

WATCH OUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!

As we turn the corner, a gentleman was walking 3 BIG German Shepherds on the sidewalk

He just kept saying “That’s a bad idea fellas!”

We each stopped to pet the adorable creatures quickly hopped off the sidewalk and ran by him on the street

Continue to the school while discussing if that dog walker was a prophet and he really meant WHAT WE ARE ABOUT TO DO is a bad idea

Wall-sit with air presses x 30

Supines x 20

Railing squats x 20

Supines x 20

Continue to Mount Thin Mint for some partner work

200 Merkins and 300 Squats

P1 runs up hill to cemetery and considers taking a dirt nap returns to flapjack until total reps complete

Mosey to back of school for more partner work

P1 does side steps ups on Jersey Barrier blocks

P2 does railing crawl up ramp + 10 supines and returns to Flapjack

4 reps each

Mosey back to start with some plank work and an AYG run up to the smell of Bacon bridge

MOLESKINE:

Smaller crowd with less mumblechatter for sure

Most of the talk centered around the dogs and the Bad Idea premonition

Great to see Rudy and EHarmony back out after some time away

Nice work by Dana throughout, especially the last AYG run up the hill . . . He commented that I gave him a double take when I saw him chase me down . . . #SprintingForBacon

Well done by Foundation and Dancing Bear setting the pace all day

Doughboy continues to say he is a Clydesdale but he’s shedding his mane quickly . . . Would have been fun to get Bread Bowl’s commentary on the dogs

Southern Belle was in a full stretch on the railing crawl . . . #DidIHearAGoodfellaJoke

Posse and Xerox were sneaky fast on the hill today

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

THIS SUNDAY at 10:30am: Forest Hill is holding an outdoor service at Cane Creek Park. David Chadwick will be preaching live (see Dana for more details)

“You all assume full liability for any damage you do to yourself, physically, mentally and/or emotionally! – MODIFICATE As Needed!”

It all started with a mosey around the parking lot and a discussion of how uncreative I have been with re-hashing the D-Day work out from back on June 6th of this year, the 74th anniversary of the landings at Normandy. I spoke up and said that today was the 100th anniversary of the beginning the Battle of the Selle, one of the last of WWI. So today we’ll go “over the top”.

COP:

SSH x’s 20

Imperical Walkers x’s 20

Windmills x’s 10

Hill Billies x’s 20

Some arm circles and triceps’ stretches.

Over The Top: (they hit the beaches of Normandy @ 6:30AM, so we’ll do 6 exercises – 30 reps each)

Regular Merkins – Then bear crawl 3 parking spaces to next exercise

WWII Sit Ups – Then lunge walk 3 parking spaces to next exercise

Wide Merkins – Then bear crawl 3 parking spaces to next exercise

Flutter Kicks – Then lunge walk 3 parking spaces to next exercise

Low Slow Squats – Then bear crawl 3 parking spaces to next exercise

Carolina Dry Docks – Run back to the beginning and repeat

After 3 full rounds, mosey over to the school for some people’s chair.

On the wall, 90* and arms out front while waiting on the six.

3 Recovery Burpees

Back on the wall, 90* & Air Presses x’s 50

30 LBC’s

Back on the wall, 90* & Air Presses x’s 75

30 Squats

Back on the wall, 90* & Air Presses x’s 100

3 Recovery Burpees

Mary:

Heels To Heaven – In Cadence to 20

LBC’s – I.C. to 20

Dying Cockroach – I.C. to 20

The Dolly – I.C. to 20

Rosalita – I.C. to 20 (counted in various languages simultaneously and at the same time)

Announcements:

BBQ at the Scout Hut (Troop 276) on Indian Trail Rd. this Saturday 11-6. Help send some young men to Summer Camp next year!

Upcoming Q’s at Conviction: Crypto the 24th, Espresso the 31st and The Wall Nov 7th

Moleskin:

Great effort by all! Way too many Merkins & Dry Docks for some – MODIFICATE as Needed!

Bullwinkle landed with the second wave in the gloom, but better late than never!

Shepherd just doesn’t like doing situps or even CMB on pavement, always seeking out the turf nearby.

The Wall found out how much 6 exercises and 15 parking spots = a big ol’ bucket o’ suck!

I pull up, first Car I see is Shop, cool, then I park and see Snowflake, cool, Dasher, Frack, Bratwurst, Cool. It was like we got the band back together! I have been doing this a while I have built many great friendships and love all the workouts I get to do and the folks I get to work out with no doubt. That said, this morning was a little reminiscent of the original crew I started years ago with and I was pumped about working out with them, only person we were missing was Ice. We drag him in sometime soon!

The Thang: Light pole work, 4 light poles, 10 burpees each one, work back first light 10 jump squats each light. Start again, 20 Carolina Dry Docks. Mosey to the side lot partner up 100 Burpees while partner 1 circles the globe. Done, mosey over to next set of lights 25 LBC at each. Mosey to the last around the school and 10 merkins at each light. Mosey to the lot and finish with 3 wind sprints up the hill.

Moleskin: First of all lets do a quick shout out on the respects, War Daddy- Snow Flake 57! Johnny Utah 53! Shop Dawg 53, The Grease Monkey 50!!!! This was 2.5 miles of high intensity burpees running and mixed in Plank Jacks for active rest, it was not easy and they killed it. They inspire and motivate me every day! Thank you for pushing and showing up every morning, I appreciate you more than you know. Secondly, I am just honored to work out with you all, enjoyed the opportunity to lead, and welcome to Endo to this Crazy thing we call F3

Announments: Goodfella’s got some awesome developing news on a awesome community opportunity- I’m not sure if it is completely public info so ask him about it next time you see him.

With a full dose of Q Juice flowing, YHC woke up at 0315 with all sorts of thoughts of what he could do to his weinke. After much toying with and fiddling around with the weinke, finally got out of bed at 0430. Headed to the new well-lit Five Stones AO to see how I can implement the weinke with as much sleep-deprived anger as possible. SURPRISE SURPRISE, when I arrived at the AO, there was actually gear there to use. Imagine that! YHC had heard some horror stories of this AO only being able to work in aerobic and pelvic thrust exercises.

WARMUP:

Disclaimer given #FormPolice

Mosey to other side of parking lot

Big 10s x 20

Merkins x 5

MC x 10

Plank Jack x 15

Bobby Hurleys x 20

THE THANG:

Station and Partner work

10 Stations all with gear

WW2 sit-ups

Plate thrusters

Curls

Rope

Shoulder Presses

Weighted squats

Kettlebell Swings

Figure 8s (with Kettlebell between legs)

Jump Rope

Sand bucket shrugs

Timer: One group runs over and back of Chiseled Mountain x 2

All other groups do their station until Timers are back

Rotate BUT before you do, 10 Hand-Slap merkins everytime

Mosey before 2nd rotation

Timer group only runs over Chiseled Mountain once

5 Bobby Hurleys before rotating

Move to Plank/Merkin/Weight circle

Each PAX planks in tight circle

We passed 2 weights clockwise and 2 weights counterclockwise

Everytime PAX passed a weight, do a merkin

Mosey around Chiseled Mountain and back to Squat/Weight circle

Each PAX holds squat in tight circle

We passed 8 weights clockwise for a couple rotations and then counter-clockwise for a couple

Everytime PAX passed a weight, touch the ground

Finish with an AYG sprint to Monroe the other side of the parking lot

MOLESKINE:

Shake n’ Bake was about to kiss me high five me when I called an audible on Hand-Slap merkins only to want to kill me when I called the same play

Damascus does not follow the rules of Asylum (no talking during workouts) . . . It’s amazing he could lift any weights while he was talking that much . . . Oh wait

Great to welcome another Boston sports fan into the mix. Welcome FNG Minuteman . . . People thought it was cuz he was wearing a UMass hat but somebody might have talked to his M for intel on him

Kudos to all the guys doing a pre-run this morning. Must have been 10+. Impressive. Lots of skinnier/faster dudes out there like Jingles, Wedding Singer, Deadwood, Zinfandel, Shake n’ Bake, Damascus, Rubbermaid, Dana

Great job to Fuse Box and Banjo for starting this workout and already have it be this successful! Thanks for the leadership and the passion to make this a success

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Five Stones is starting a Men’s group study on Wednesdays at 0615. Perfect timing for you to attend Chiseled and then roll into the study and grab some free breakfast (right Dana?)

There were about 20ish men that posted in the drizzle. Short disclaimer modified by Gumby (I know its Gummy) and we are off.

We ran over here and did a bunch of mermaids. O T W

We ran over there and did a bunch of mermaids, Heels to Heaven, and Lunges. R I H

Loped over to the Hot Box did a bunch of squats. A G I

Ran back and forth and did some more mermaids, and heels to heaven. N E T

Ran hither and yonder and did some Mary. G R E

Then native American ran back to the launch point. E S

Big group today. Spackler was in the mix, so I knew I would have a good name for the workout. As usual he came through. Not only did he provide the official name, and the entertainment through out, but he was moving today on the hither and yonders. I am also pretty sure he lapped me on the Native American Runs. Lorax and Snuka were leading the pack on the back and forths. It was everything me Puddin could do to keep up. So, speaking of Puddin, he was providing all the motivations everyone needed to finish the heels to heaven and get right out to the back and forths. He gets props for the linger, it was touch and go as to whether or not we would have an official code brown. Briiiiileaux and Icky Shuffle dominated on the lunges. I think Icky was upset about the workout….probably something Spackler said. You guys hug it out. As usual Mermaid was doubling everyone on the Merkins, we need to officially change the name of Merkins to Mermaids….I have the mike, you guys have to listen to every word I say, from this day forth, at site of Anvil, Merkins shall be no more, Mermaids will officially be added to the lexicon for push ups …Done. It was an honor to lead, thank you for the push.

FNG attended- he is a uuuuge 90210 fan, welcome Peach Pit.

If we need Q’s and you are on the list, expect to get the call….

I found a quick documentary on Dabo Sweeney as a middle schooler. Looks like it was his first encounter with a wolf. Check it out pretty cool….Go Tigers.

Six descended on the venerable Scout Hut at Matthews United Methodist to work out a few kinks, tweaks and twinges at Gumby.

This was a group of Gumby vets, so, a disclaimer was given where YHC might have yada-yada’d.

Lighting: Regular … YHC was thinking Bambi lamp, but, wasn’t exactly in a stable mindset (more on that in a minute)

Music: YHC’s “Gin Blossoms Radio” on Pandora, which has, thanks to lots of thumbs up/thumbs downs, been algorithm’d to an enjoyable mix of 90s/early 2000s jangle pop and some rock favorites. It’s the large adult son of Pandora stations.

Devotional: From the old classic, Our Daily Bread, a devo on winning and losing. That whole “stable mindset” thing earlier was mentioned because last night, YHC’s flag football team lost in the playoffs. We still have a game left … a consolation/3rd place game … but, not playing for the championship is, well, hard. The devo has a good word on winning, losing and perspective. Now, the question is, how long does YHC stew on the loss and when does YHC actually pay attention to the devo he offered?

Hold on the left, right arm out and looking right, then flapjack, hold on the right, left arm out and looking left.

Move to tabletop for some cat and cow. After that, check your 6 with some side bends.

Move to child’s pose, moving your arms to the right, back to the middle, back to the left, then back to the middle.

Up to the top of the mat. One sun salutation lead by the Q, then 2 OYO.

Back down on your back, grab a strap or a rope.

Strap around your right foot, stretch it straight up. Try and get deeper with every exhale. Swing your leg straight down to the right. Bring it back up. Flapjack.

Now, move over onto your left side. Strap around your right foot, then, bring your right leg up for a combo hamstring/inner thigh stretch. This was (1) new (2) led by a Q with bad form, but once the Q said what should be stretched, everyone else was able to get where they needed. Leg down and flapjack.

Up to mountain, 2 sun salutations OYO.

Then a half-SS, stopping in downward dog, right leg up and hold for a 3-legged dog, then swing through to warrior 1.

Move from warrior 1 to warrior 2 to warrior 3 to peaceful warrior to warrior 2.

In warrior 2, face the wall in a star pose, then descend to where your hands are on the mat. A professional like Witch Doctor would tell you to move, flexing each individual vertebrae. YHC is not a professional.

Walk your hands back toward your 6. Then over to the right leg, then to the left, then back to the middle, then back up, moving back to warrior 2. Go to warrior 3, then peaceful, then 2, then 1, then back to mountain.

1 SS OYO.

Go through that whole rigamarole again on the other side. This time, when it came to the star pose, descend, then do the ninja pose, left foot turned up on its heel, left leg straight, sitting back on your right foot. Flapjack, then back up and finish the warrior rigamarole.

Okay, time to sit in the chair, so chair. Then we moved to awkward pose, which is like chair, except your arms are out straight. YHC discovered in his research that there are multiple awkwards ….

Move to awkward 2 (aka “more awkward”) which is the standard awkward pose, but, you are up on the balls of your feet. This will make your legs go into revolt.

Then, move to awkward 3 (aka “most awkward”), which, while still on the balls of your feet and hands out, squat. This is not much better.

Back to awkward 2, awkward 1, chair, recover.

Gypsy chimes in at this point. “That was awful.” Yeah, it was. So, let’s do that again. Repeato chair/awkward series.

Back to mountain, let’s make like a tree. So, get into tree, right foot up, balancing on your left leg. Down. Before we flapjack, let’s keep it in the tree family with a new pose, the palm. So, from mountain, get up on the balls of your feet, arms up, hands open and meeting above your head. Down. Now, standard tree on the other side.

About this time, “Everlong” by the Foo Fighters pops up. If you are a fan of FF, you know that this is typically their closer at a concert. Here is an example from when YHC saw them in ColumbiYEAH last year about this time. So, it’s serendipitous, because we’re in the home stretch.

Move into downward dog, right foot up and through for pigeon. Come out of that, flapjack.

Back to corpse pose, revisit the devotional, then, time’s up.

Counting.

Naming.

–30–

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Gypsy still looking for PAX for Speed for Need at the Let Them Soar 5K on November 10. It is launching from Christ Covenant, home of Skunk Works and Kevlar, and goes through downtown Matthews.

MOLE(burrito)SKINE

Alright, so, yeah, I’m trying not to be grouchy or sulk in the wake of losing a playoff game with a group that I thought could possibly win the whole thing. I am competitive, I don’t like losing, I love winning even more. Plus, I try and take it seriously and put on an air of professionalism for the kids and their families.

Bottom line, losing stinks.

Bottom(er) line, coming up with a quality #weinke when you’re in the throes of that moment is an interesting exercise, especially when I wanted to sprinkle in a couple of new things.

So, the variances on awkward were found in basic Google research last night. The palm pose came as a result of Hurricane Florence. As a proud cord-cutter, I like the options available to have live TV through streaming. Now, during Florence, we had a brief Internet outage on that Saturday (thankfully it came back before the noon kickoff slate), and I was flipping through the network/OTA offerings. On a PBS subchannel, I found a yoga show. Apparently, it is a PBS production called “Yoga in Practice.”

Some of the things the ladies were doing were a little beyond broga, but the palm is one I picked up.

Today, the #mumblechatter was quality over quantity, and centered around two things:

Gypsy arrived late and had to MacGyver the strap around his yoga mat to help with the strap exercises, as all of the good Boy Scout ropes were taken by the other PAX.

An ad for Biscuitville popped up during a break in the music, and Tweetsie just threw it out there “Is Biscuitville better than Bojangles?”. Although I think no one in the room has ever actually been to Biscuitville, it was determined to be inferior to Bojangles because (a) it has only breakfast/lunch hours, and you can get a cajun filet biscuit anytime at Boj and (b) because, as I put it, “I can’t, in good conscience, drive past a Bojangles to go to Biscuitville,” which is what I would have to do to get to Indian Trail and the nearest Biscuitville.

So, there you have it. Another edition of Gumby in the books. Hopefully you left feeling a little better. Thanks to Swiss Miss and Tweetsie for the opportunity to lead. It is a privilege and an honor.

As Mike Tyson is claimed to have said “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face”. I arrived early, ran through the areas I planned to use, then parked the car. Started getting the playlist going only to find an urgent email I needed to answer for work. Once I finish I look up to find a bakers dozen worth of pax giving me grief for having my head buried in my phone. I get enough of that from the M so lets not start that with the F3 crew. As others arrive I notice my playlist is only playing the first song and stopping. Last week I caught wind of a similar technical glitch with Goodfella at Dromedary. I am beginning to think there is an F3 technical bug making its rounds….keep a look out. I look up from trying to fix the playlist issues in time to see a 4 deep clown car filled with one star, boytana, lazy boy, and Krusty (more on Krusty later). Watch check – 5:29, quick disclaimer and then off we go on the pre warned 1/2 mile mosey.

WARM UP

Mosey behind brooklyn pizza, through Chick Fil A parking lot, past the gas station, through BB&T, and back down to target to get our half mile in. Somewhere around brooklyn pizza the music gave out on me again. Unfortunately for me, Deadwood was near and decided then was a good time for him to give me a lecture on how to use You Tube to create playlists. I be honest, I caught about 1/4 of what deadwood was saying but I did hear YouTube and playlist. He might have given me the secret to life but I was fixated on finishing the half mile mosey without dying and trying to fix my playlist issues. As we rounded the corner at BB&T heading to target I notice a large looming shadow coming at us at a pretty good pace. At first I thought we have picked up a late arrival, but then I see the light reflect off the glasses of a much smaller pax behind him and realize that once again, Bread Bowl had to make a pit stop. God bless the patience of Dough Boy and his ability to wait on his son. May I suggest a prerun down the driveway at the house as it always hits him in the first 15 steps.

Circle up at Target (while I continue to attempt to fix my music troubles).

30 SSH’s – started hearing some groaning around 25.

15 mountain climbers

15 T Merkins

8 Potato Pickers.

THE THANG

Mosey to back of Target parking lot where there are 6 trees located.

5 In/Out Merkins per tree. Mary at end waiting on the 6.

5 Peter Parker Merkins per tree. (For those keeping count, that’s 75 merkins so far – goal was 150 after having my legs destroyed by Money Ball at Flash). It was at this point that Jingles pointed out they did a lot of Merkins with Frack the day before (really? Frack likes merkins? I had no idea). Sorry Jingles….two merkin heavy workouts in a row for you.

Mosey to Pet Smart (I will add that when I scouted the location at 5:00 this morning, Target was dark and pet smart was lit up like Legalized on a trip to Colorado – yeah, that doesn’t make any sense, sorry Legalized). Anyways, at some point during our opening mosey – target lit up one light and Pet Smart went dark….enough moonlight out that we only had a few run in casualties at pet smart.

Station Work – 4 “weight” stations on the perimeter with a cardio station in the center. 1 min at weights and then meet in the center for 1 minute of cardio. Pax split up evenly into the four weight stations. We preformed two rounds of 4 so 8 total.

Weights:

Carolina Dry Docks

Diddle Merkins (Wide, regular, diamond)

Supines

Low Slow Deep Jump Squats.

Cardio:

Mountain Climbers

SSH

Lunge/Squat/Lunge

High Knees

Parker Peters

Burpees

Jump Squats

Station Run

There was just enough time left to do an AC/DC “ThunderStruck” beat down. Unfortunately my amazon music account still decided it wasn’t ready to wake up. So what do good Q’s do – improvise. What do bad Q’s do….plow through, regardless of how bad it gets. We plowed through with me randomly yelling thunder and Bread Bowl breaking the silence with calls for my head. Merkins on the word thunder, mountain climbers in between. Two “rest” breaks to do air presses. Attempted to mimic the 33 merkins from the actual ThunderStruck song as best I could. We had about a minute left so we finished out with LBC’s.

MOLE SKIN

I learned today that Boytana has the most awkward looking deep squat form I’ve ever seen. Looked more like a ballet dancers plie (sp) than a squat.

Krusty attempted to change his name during name-o-rama. I let it slide and decided to consult with the F3 elders on the matter. It was determined that Ass Crack violated the unwritten rule of could you call the name out in public with kids around. Couple that with the fact that he also hated the name Krusty meant Krusty must stay. The random name change vote from COT has been voided and Krusty will remain Krusty. As per F3 rules, you can’t name yourself so if One Star, Boytana, or Lazy Boy can come up with a name that Krusty hates worse than Krusty – he may have a chance at a name change in the future.

I need to get to know the boys from the one star clown car a little better. They fit in well with the Shenanigans of WUC, but I only see them at Watchtower. Tip of the hat to One Star for growing his crew.

Speaking of One Star – he killed it today. Heard mumble chatter about running from a dump or something as to why he was so fast today….perhaps Bread Bowl needs to show him how to release during the opening mosey.

And speaking of Bread Bowl – I made his list today! I’m so excited. I’ve been waiting for this moment for awhile and was disappointed my last Q wasn’t tough enough to get there. I wish I had a better acceptance speech ready, but at this time I just want to thank Bread Bowl for allowing me to push him beyond his limit to the point of his disdain for me.

Money ball made it out for the second time this week coming off his torn labia calf injury. Yes – I stole that joke from Zinfandel, but it was too good not to use again. Considering I beat Money Ball yesterday (in one exercise and yes he was on my heels) and he appeared to struggle today, I’d say I got him right where I want him for another weighted vest bet. Got to act quick as he will quickly pass me in stamina again (likely before weeks end).

Preciate Eli making it out for a rare appearance in support of Briarcrest. Good work today. He must have still been flying high from his Eagles beating “Eli”.

Lots of mumble chatter and jokes today during the round. At one point, the talk between Money Ball and the rest of my weight station group had me laughing to the point that I was having issue completing reps (maybe Frack is right???). I appreciate the humor this group has and its what keeps some of us returning. I can go to a gym and stare at a tv on a treadmill all I want, but it gets old quick. The camaraderie amongst us pax is what drives me to get out of bed.

Someone attempted to actually sing ThunderStruck. It might have been Zinfandel…either way, it was a decent impression.

Mad dog and I matched shirts and shorts. Neither of us made it very far in the game of chicken to check underwear. I guess I will have to trust Mad Dog that he wasn’t wearing a thong.

Dana and Wedding Singer both pushed hard today. Long over due VQ’s needed for both of them. If your a site Q and have openings please reach out to them. I will throw chicken little in that bunch as well though he was not there today (#complimentarypost).

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Wednesday Bible Study at 5 Stones at 6:15 am. Bottle Cap will be attending this week and is pushing to get some other F3 folks to stick around after his Chiseled Q.

Posse announced something but I forgot what it was (Sorry). Was it the crane relay? Please post to Playhouse and News Channel and I can update the back blast to include it.

Got a text from Glass Joe last night that his daughter had broken her arm attempting a Yurchenko vault from a 2X12 wedged under the rear bumper of his F-150 at the Unionville Gymnastics and Check Cashing Center last night. Gotta help a brother out, so time to brave the extremely confusing temporary stoplights, traffic cones, and barriers across Hwy74 to lead the brave men of (the real) UC in this morning’s misadventure.

THANG:

Warmup COP near the entrance to the trail that leads to the meth houses. Some stuff.

Much longer-than-anyone-wanted suicides along the road. R1 Squats, R2 Merkins. Mary for the six.

Stairway to 7s on the hill – burpees and jump squats. Near mutiny because mud, so moved to the road and doubled the length because complaining.

Ascending merkins at the stoplights on the other side of the field to complete the cubic route around campus.

Mary

MOLESKIN:

It’s been a while since I have posted out in Hazard County. I was surprised to see 14 other guys show up, still a good crew out there. Not a lot has changed.

Shepherd still does nanosquats

Hairband complained about running the whole time

Bonhoeffer still wore that awful tank top

Hoffa was angry about stuff

Arsenal died three times

Gypsy only speaks F3 lexicon now and wears a shovel flag as a loincloth

Lumberjack has a nice car

Killi is apparently not named after the dwarf in The Hobbit

Two of the young guys were crushing it out there – Full House and Jock Strap. Strap has his VQ tomorrow at Death Valley, home of all things muddy and soccer. Since he was out front on the suicides, I asked him to demonstrate his cadence (which of course he has been practicing). You boys are in for a real treat tomorrow.

Lots of hate for the running out there today. Good . . . Good . . . let the hate flow through you. Use your aggressive feelings. Only then, will you harness the true power of the Dark Side.

12 PAX fought off the Monday morning blues to run 5 miles at whatever recovery pace meant for them. Bratwurst extended his “show up early” streak for a second week and we were off to the Providence County Club.

THE THANG:

This is the route:

Others on Strava will have a few more thick lines as they were circling back to get me.

MOLESKIN:

When I was #notarunner and showed up at running workout and saw the fast guys there, it was a little intimidating, but someone was always kind enough to stay back and encourage me. Now that I am a runner, no more sympathy for PJ. Bratwurst pronounced that fact when he looked right at me and declared that he did not need to provide short cuts for any of the PAX who were in attendance this morning. This was right before he took off and quickly accelerated to his 6 minute pace with the rest of the fast guys.

Running up Ardrey Kell, using ninja like moves to avoid the trees along the way and seeing red blinky lights far in the distance, it was time to cut thru the shopping center between Ardrey Kell and Tom Short. The fast guys were found. They were shocked to see me. It made them run faster.

As we made a left into the fancy neighborhood, Bratwurst barked out a command. Something about going straight, no turns. But when your legs are already tired and you don’t want to go any further, in your delirium, you think he said “we are all going to walk from here.”

As their pace quickened and their blinky lights disappeared around blind corners, there I was. One headlight.

Each time I thought I was alone and ready to give up, I was able to see, in the distance, a blinky light or a pair of headlights coming to find me. So I kept moving my legs and eventually made it back to base.

Often I think I am alone. Whether it is in my circumstance, my situation or in my struggles. But when I have the faith to go around those blind corners and just keep moving forward, looking ahead, for the people that God has placed in my life to help and encourage me, I can finish the race.

Maybe they know that to encourage me in this season of my journey, instead of running beside me, they have to run ahead of me to teach me that I will never improve or grow without something to run towards.

Appreciate Wingman taking the lead on the broga and One-Niner taking us out.

I want to rewind to my Sunday morning strolling thru Harris Teeter searching for all available protein; when I received a text at 9:45 am stating on was on Q tomorrow and it’s a gear workout. Kinda funny because I didn’t agree to this. It sorta felt like that one time my name among others were hand written on piece of toilet paper titled Q Schedule, and posted on GroupMe. I did what any man in my position would do, and ignored it. Fast forward to 3:45 pm. I received a second text requesting my presence at Asylum? Realizing this problem wasn’t going to disappear easily; I agreed. So here we are 5:15 am on this crisp Monday morning and 7 men are ready to work; but wait the guy trolling me from Sunday in MIA, and he has the gear. Out of nowhere there was a screech of rubber and there is Transporter coming around the corner on two wheels, hot off the porta-john, with a truck full of metal plates to save the day. Now the 8 pax in total were all there and ready to put in some work.

Warm Up:

We started off with a little SSH x 25, and moved to some IW x 2o. I pulled the Cherry Pickers x 1 out just for good measure, and finished it off with Merkins x 30.

The Workout:

Partner up and mosey with the plate to the large parking lot. I grabbed a 35lb’er; but some feeling super macho grabbed the 45’s which hopefully turned into your biggest regret of the week.

Partner 1 (P1)- 1/6 mile run while Partner 2 (P2) started with Front-Delt Raises. Combined goal of 250. I knew what was ahead so I quickly choose Goodfella as a partner to take the brunt of the workload. Jingles has been running in his spare time; he was nipping at my heels the entire time.

Next exercise was P1 – Dips and P2 Worm Burners with the plate. Total count 250.

Next was Worm Burners across the entire parking lot while your partner did 3 burpees and chased you down. Flap jack until complete. It was my first time meeting Smokey; but after I called this exercise I learned what his hatred face looked like. It was Transporters first reference to puking; but not his last.

Next P1 did Bear Crawls while P2 worked on Tricep extensions. Once again our combined goal was 25o. Shop banged these out rather quickly; pretty confident we found his wheel house.

Final exercise was P1 – Decline Merkins and P2 – did lunge walks with plate over head. Is it possible the Doc’s merking form is worsening with age. Your suppose to have day light between your pelvis the ground; I hope the concrete burn doesn’t set you back any.

Mosey back to start for the signature Merkin Ladder and some Dry Docks.

As always; it is a privilege to lead this group of awesome men. Akbar is like a silent assassin. You never hear him but he is always there putting in the work.